The piano trio is where my friend Paul Plimley really lives. Yes, I can interest him in electronics; and he does play guitar, vibes and percussion — but he really lives his most joyous moments with bass and drums.

The trio with Barry Guy, Paul Plimley and Lucas Niggli was one of my personal highlights from the 2010 Vancouver International Jazz Festival. They reached the highest levels of improvisation in ensemble performance where they meshed into a texture of beauty and complexity that shone with emotion.

Lucas Niggli is a Swiss drummer who plays with style and delicate strength. He stretches the boundaries of percussion while playing in the pocket for the band. This balancing act displays the greatness of a drummer; too much steady time keeping and the innovative spark fades, too much of stretching one’s own personal boundaries and the connection with the ensemble is lost.

The photos show the level of communication and emotion present in the Ironworks as each of these expert musicians wholeheartedly joined their considerable individual talents into a cohesive whole.

Barry Guy (below) is a bass player living in Switzerland, who plays with Lucas often. This evening of music allowed him to display many extended techniques and timbres. He played with intelligence, skill and unrepentant emotion. His composition, Fixed, Fragmented, Fluid; had been played as one of the festival opening works in a larger ensemble that included this trio. That was structured improv, but this was free and he was able to fly with his fingers and bow with authority.

There was a Canadian pianist who completed the trio named Paul Plimley. I must admit to being biased when I write about Paul, but I have seen him play in Vancouver many times, and grace the stage of the Ironworks with other trios. This was one of the best performances I have ever witnessed from the maestro. The combination of Barry Guy and Lucas Niggli challenged, supported, encouraged and battled with Paul in the most delightful way possible. There was always a spirit of fun and several times the joy crackled in the air like electricity.

I was a photographer that evening, soundless and motionless focusing on the light and motion as I was transported by the music.

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#nopipelines #oilspill #courageGrandmother, Retired Teacher Jailed Up to Six Months for Protecting Her Land

Ellen Sue Gerhart, 63, has been a key leader in the multi-year campaign against Energy Transfer Partners’ Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline, which is being built through her property.

[Huntingdon, PA] On Friday, August 3, Huntingdon County Judge George Zanic sentenced 63-year-old grandmother, retired teacher, and landowner Ellen Sue Gerhart to two to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine for indirect criminal contempt of court.

Judge Zanic’s decision was based on accusations from lawyers for Texas-based oil and gas giant Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the developer of the pipeline project through Gerhart’s land. The company alleged that Gerhart had baited a bear onto the pipeline easement on her wooded 27-acre property.

Elise Gerhart, daughter of Ellen, said, “If you build a pipeline through the woods, you should expect to see bears and other wildlife. Judge Zanic gave this $50 billion company the power of eminent domain over my family’s property and our governor gave them the permits. My mom’s protest on her own property is not the injustice here.”

In an interview prior to her arrest, Ellen Gerhart said, “We’ve had no choice but to take a stand and defend what our government officials are unwilling to protect. Our right to peacefully object to an unjust and dangerous pipeline should be protected over the profit margin of these foreign corporations.”

Rich Raiders, attorney for the Gerhart family, said “The eminent domain condemnation case filed by Sunoco against the Gerharts remains ongoing. The Gerharts have also appealed Sunoco’s environmental permits granted by the Department of Environmental Protection concerning the wetlands permits issued to Sunoco on this project. The trial before the Environmental Hearing Board is scheduled for August 29th.

Raiders continued, “Their are still charges of harassment and unlawful taking alleged against Mrs. Gerhart pending. Mrs. Gerhart believes that these charges are a distraction from Sunoco’s ongoing litany of permit suspensions, failed horizontal directional drilling, and various project delays. We believe that the company did not present evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mrs. Gerhart’s protests were criminal. Mrs. Gerhart disagrees with Judge Zanic’s decision today and is reviewing her options and will pursue her rights to the fullest extent.”

Ellen Gerhart is an outspoken advocate, not only to protect her own land but also to protect the hundreds of waterways impacted across Pennsylvania by ETP’s Mariner East 2 pipeline project. The Gerharts have never given ETP permission to build through their family land.

Since construction began, ETP has reported an astounding 111 spills and has been issued over 65 violations by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. On May 23, ETP spilled 4,000 gallons of drilling fluid on the Gerhart property, threatening the family’s well water.

Ellen and her family’s ongoing opposition to the project has led to significant intimidation and harassment on the part of ETP, their private security contractor TigerSwan, and local authorities. The Gerharts are involved in numerous cases against state agencies and ETP over use of eminent domain, deficient environmental permits, and violations of federal civil rights laws.

"The World Geological Society finally settled on the end of World War II as the onset of the Anthropocene—sharp escalation and destruction of the environment, not only global warming, carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases, but also such things as plastics in the ocean, which are predicted to be greater than the weight of fish in the ocean not far in the future.
Humans beings, right now, this generation, for the first time in history, have to ask, “Will human life survive?”

Time to end the Anthropocene era and move to an era when humans care about each other and the Earth enough to stop "having severe and deleterious effects on the environment in which human and other life can survive."